Tip of the Week: Creating Geometry from AutoCAD Drawings

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1 PTC Newsletter March 4, 2002 PTC Product Focus: Assembly Performance Extension (APX) Tip of the Week: Creating Geometry from AutoCAD Drawings Training: Upcoming Training Classes PTC Product Focus: Assembly Performance Extension (APX) Pro/Engineer s Assembly Performance Extension (APX) is a value-priced subset of the Pro/ENGINEER Advanced Assembly Extension (AAX) providing an affordable entry point into PTC's advanced assembly capabilities. This new extension has been introduced to make more accessible some of the advanced assembly tools Pro/ENGINEER provides. The APX contains tools to increase system performance and user productivity by working with only minimum type and amount of data required to accomplish the specific task. APX allows users to: Create Simplified Representations of assemblies, allowing the user to work on an associative subset of the assembly components. This subset can be defined using any combination of powerful rules, including by size, attribute, location, relationship, zone membership, etc. Create envelopes, so that entire collections of components can be represented by one single envelope part. Easily organize their assemblies into geometric zones, which can later be used to easily select collections of components. Half-spaces, closed volumes, or distances define zones.

2 Create surface or solid Shrinkwrap models from their assembly designs. This patent pending technology can be used to significantly reduce the file size of a design (typically 70-90% smaller), and to protect intellectual property and design intent when designs must be shared. Associativity ensures that when the original design changes, so does the Shrinkwrap model. The APX can significantly boost the productivity of every user who works with assemblies in Pro/ENGINEER, but it has the greatest impact on users who work with relative large numbers of components, or components with complex geometry. Tip of the Week: Creating Geometry from AutoCAD Drawings *The following steps illustrate the required menu picks for Pro/E version Step 1 Create a new part in Pro/E. Step 2 Create a protrusion (extruded, revolved, etc.) in Pro/E. Orient the model by selecting the appropriate datum planes as normal for creating a feature. Step 3 From the sketching environment, select the Sketch drop down menu at the top of the Pro/E window. Select Data From File.

3 Step 4 Select the dwg file extension from the drop down menu. Then browse to the dwg file to import.

4 Step 5 Choose the Select option from the Import Warning dialogue box. This will allow you to select the exact entities from the dwg file for importing. Step 6 This brings up a separate window displaying the AutoCAD geometry. Using the Query Select menu, individually select the entities to copy into Pro/E as illustrated with the arrows below. Hint: Try using the Select Many option and dragging a box across all geometry to copy. Pro/E may hang if you attempt to import too many entities at once with the Intent Manager activated. If this happens, try again by individually selecting each entity you wish to copy as described in step 6. Remember to keep the geometry as simple as possible. Features like rounds and holes can be added later in Pro/E if necessary.

5 Step 7 After accepting the entity selections from the previous step, the geometry appears in your sketching environment with a box around it and 3 icons for manipulating the geometry as described below. Selecting this icon will allow rotation of the sketch. The geometry will automatically snap to the 45-degree angles. Selecting this icon allows you to position the geometry. Move this point until it lines up with your datum planes or other desired reference point. Selecting this icon allows you to scale the geometry to the desired size. Don t worry too much about scale at this point because we can modify the dimensions by scaling later.

6 Step 8 Once the geometry is in the desired location, accept the placement by selecting the green check mark in the Scale Rotate dialogue box. Step 9 The intent manager will automatically dimension the sketch. Now you can trim any unwanted geometry and add any custom dimensions. Remember to use the new trim tool by selecting the trim icon. Drag the mouse across all entities that need to be trimmed as seen below. Step10 Scale the geometry by selecting the icon from the sketcher icons on the right hand side of the screen. Now drag a box across the entire sketch, which selects every dimension. Select the right mouse button to access the pop-up menu and choose Modify. This will bring up the Modify Dimensions dialogue box as seen below. Check mark select the Lock Scale option and then modify the

7 desired dimension from within the dialogue box. The rest of the sketch will scale automatically with the change. Step 11 Finish creating the feature! Upcoming Events and Training Classes Training Classes: Please visit the PTC website for a list of all training classes in your area. Click here for PTC Training Classes.